Today begins the longest day ever. We got to sleep until 8:30 and then had breakfast and left by 9:30. We were going to Chhondok's home. This was an event, because he was from the "gram." The village. However, after the four hour train ride yesterday, another 3 hours in the car each way was not very appetizing. We set off and I did flashcards for ( Read more... )

We returned and had lunch, which wasn't bad, then we went on our "crafts tour." First we stopped at the card maker's. He was painting a piece of cloth, a scroll, with bright colors. It was beautiful. His cards are "playing cards," but not as we know them. There are apparently 110 or so cards in the deck. 10 suits? They're the 10 incarnations of ( Read more... )

Actually, before I start with the story of our trip, I should start by saying that I'm leaving tonight at 8:50 my time to catch a 10:35 pm overnight express train from the Howrah train station to Puri, which is in the state of Orissa. I will be gone until Monday morning at approximately 7 am, as we arrive back in Howrah at 5 am. Oh boy. Suddenly, I ( Read more... )

Nwe pictures from this weekend added.

Ben and I did not find a coffee shop. By the way, I forgot to mention that Ben has scabies. This is irrelevant to the story, but does tie into the trip I'll be making July 15th-20th with Joel and his partner Mandy to Puri, as I will be sleeping next to Ben in a bed. Mmm, scabies. However, Ben and I were close to the Kalighat Mundir (temple) and so ( Read more... )

This morning I got up at 8, Skyped until perhaps 10:30 or so, and then at 11 set off on my grand adventure. Today, the 4th of July, the goal was to go see the National Museum. According to tourist reviews, this museum is one of the largest museums in Asia, and among the exhibits listed, there were whale skeletons and giant tortoise shells. Also, I ( Read more... )

Yesterday we had cooking class. This consisted of us watching the cook fry eggplant, and put ingredients in with the rice to make kichuri. I confess I paid almost not attention. That is, I watched, but knowing that I would never remember it anyway I didn't really care that much. However, one thing was very interesting. Many peppers are used in the ( Read more... )

There was a lot of cultural stuff that I was thinking earlier today I should post, but now I have to remember it. Right now, for my "tutorial" with Proshenjit, we're "reading" a pamphlet on human trafficking in South Asia. It goes like this: in the 70s, with the real oil boom in the Middle East (wait, wasn't that when the oil crisis was everywhere ( Read more... )

On Saturday, Jillian and I went to see the Victoria Memorial. According to Wikipedia ( Read more... )

I take back everything that I ever said about Kolkata. All of it. Most of it. But not about my roommates. It was a great day. It was fabulous. I got up at 6 in the morning, showered, and then tiptoed into the living room where Bijoy and the other guy sleep at night, and pulled the internet cord as far as it would go. Then I pulled my chair from my ( Read more... )